100 A Required Help. (2/2)

By the end of his orders, the shadow that was previously kneeling immediately left and exited the underground maze that was leading to the exquisite room. Arriving at a specific location that was also hidden, he saw three ratmen and a man playing cards while waiting. Not taking another step forward, the shadow only looked above, to see a female elf pointing at him with a bow. She was behind a fake wooden wall, only letting the very tip of the arrow visible. If someone tried to barge in, he would automatically be shot, and none of those that were supposedly playing cards were truly relaxed.

”You have disappointed the Hand of Avenio. Five vermin incapable of even gathering basic information. Even someone as weak as the mayor of this city dares to slander us because of you. You have a rare chance of making up for your past mistakes. Kill the ghouls, injure the liches. Don't come back until you have finished.”

None of the hardened killers dared to even retort something. When they heard who was in charge, the only thing that went through their minds was that they were quite lucky. The four that were responsible for the collect of information still didn't understand when did the army suddenly gained so many additional skeletons. But after checking once more on the undead, they couldn't help but acknowledge the fact that they were deeply wrong.

If it had been someone from the Black Gauntlet, it wouldn't have ended with everyone getting a free pass. At least one would have been executed for such incompetency. But because they wouldn't change anything about their future, they could only wait until the judgment was pronounced. Looking at the dark silhouette fading in the opening, they finally breathed normally. The tense atmosphere was lifted and everyone began their preparations for the incoming battle.

”Kreek, those ghouls were normal or did you notice something out of the ordinary?” The only female asked one of the ratman about their targets. He was the most experienced of the fives, especially since he was often sent in the South, inside the fallen Kingdom of Pankow.

”Su-superior ones. No ssstiff movements, agile and ni-nimble. We need to ssstrike hard, in a re-real fight, we will mossst likely loose.” The weird speech of the ratman didn't prevent everyone to clearly heard everything.Even if they were trained as assassins, it wasn't to the point where they were defenseless in the open. Against armored targets or skilled fighters, they were obviously at a disadvantage, but a local guard wouldn't be able to even inflict a single injury on them.

”Like we always do, like we always do.” The man could have been recognized, if the Mayor was present since he was the only one that could be contacted inside Archet. While gathering their weapons and equipment, they could only let nearly half of them on the ground. Various poisoned darts and other smoke pouches were rendered useless by the nature of their enemy. It will only slow them down if they picked it up.

Unfortunately for Seron, he had no idea that help was coming. And he was slowly beginning to lose confidence about being able to defend Archet. The numerous assaults of the ghouls were creating more and more issues, and he couldn't prevent it. They had free reign on where and when they will strike, and on the few times where they faced a strong team of adventurers, the undead only retreated inside the sea of skeletons. It was also at this moment that they noticed the same adventurers falling sick, poisoned by something on the claws of the ghouls.

This was not deadly but forced them to retreat to heal themselves. Without those strong group to help relieve the pressure on the guards, many points on the frontline were on the brink of breaking. The only good news was the fact that both Meridiana and Davion were single-handedly saving the northern part of the city, allowing him to take many men from that place to support the rest. Looking above at the nearly imperceptible moon shrouded by clouds, he could only keep fighting while hearing the reports of casualties growing bigger and bigger.

Even at that time, he still hadn't seen a single trace of any of the two liches. Fighting undead armies were the most frustrating thing for any human commanders. As for the fact that the Mayor promised him reinforcements, he had totally forgotten about it. It had already been more than six hours since the beginning, and dawn was still a few hours away. While thinking this, he began to hear the shouts of those surrounding him.

”Ghouls! STAY IN FORMATION!”

”We're getting overrun!”

”HELP! HELP!”

”By Oslo, will someone stop those monsters!” While praying internally all the gods he knew, Seron began to charge toward the disorganized frontline, hoping to reduce the number of death even just by one.